Interviewer
Hello, we’re with Mr. John Lown, whose family has been involved with the coal trade in Martham, literally for generations! So where did it all start?
John Lown
That’s a picture of my old grandfather.
Interviewer
And was he John Lown as well?
John Lown
He was James.
Interviewer
And where were his premises?
John Lown
His premises were, when the railway was running, we had premises down station yard. We had nowhere else. All the coal used to come by rail.
Interviewer
So did you have your own siding once upon a time?
John Lown
We did, more or less, though that was rented. In fact we had two, yes.
Interviewer
So he started in the 1890s, and that gentleman here, who is this?
John Lown
That’s my grandfather.
Interviewer
He looks very smart.
John Lown
Well in my life, when I knew him, he walks with two sticks. They tell me he broke his thigh years ago, and of course it couldn’t be repaired at that time.
Interviewer
But he ran the coal business?
John Lown
Well, and the pork butcher’s as well.
Interviewer
On two sticks?
John Lown
Yes. They were pork butchers, on the corner of the village on the green.
Interviewer
That’s an unusual blend isn’t it?
John Lown
Yes. This was my uncle, my father’s brother.
Interviewer
So did he work with your father?
John Lown
Yes, on the rounds.
Interviewer
Were they business partners?
John Lown
Oh yes. When I started work, we had two lorries, and one horse. And that was 1944. So we still had the horse.
If we go back a little further, my grandfather, I think they bought the whole site. I think that was, they told me, about 1935. We went out as far as Gorleston, that way, then out as far as Blofield, as far as Happisburgh. I think we employed 14 once.
Interviewer
Is that you there?
John Lown
Yes, that’s me.
Interviewer
Are you wearing an old battle dress?
John Lown
I weren’t in the army, but we used to wear them! And I started filling coal when I was, not bragging, 14? And I started doing the round when I was 15.
Interviewer
So a typical day in the coalyard, what time would you start?
John Lown
Oh, we never did start til 8 o clock.
Interviewer
That’s very civilised!
John Lown
Yeah. I don’t know why, but it was 8 o clock until…5.30, I believe.
Interviewer
What would the first job be in the morning?
John Lown
Well the first job would be, the lorries, to load them up, and of course they had to be full by then.
Interviewer
What did each sack weigh?
John Lown
At that time 1 cwt. 50 kilos. A man would be holding the bag, and they’d each grab a corner and they’d have them on your back.
I don’t know if you know Martham river? You know where the mill is? But it’s nowt to carry half a ton of coal down to the mill on your back.
Interviewer
Did you have a pint at lunch, you boys?
John Lown
That’s a funny thing, I never was a beer drinker! You always remember at Christmastime what people would give you to drink.
Funny, I don’t know why. When I did start work there was an old gentleman, he had a glass of rum, and said do you want one, and I’d never drunk rum, and that rum tipped up and so did I! And that was the last rum I ever did drink. And that’s a lovely picture here.
It is a nice picture, and I think it shows the delivery lorry very nicely. This is a modern was of uploading coal, this machine. It come in there, and you press a button, and get a couple of pieces and get on your way. We done a hundred years trading, so we had this awarded from the coal board, success for 100 years.
Interviewer
What is that?
John Lown
That is a miner’s lamp, see that has gone a stamp on the bottom of it somewhere.
Interviewer
Yes I saw that.
John Lown
JD Lown and co, from British Coal, to commemorate 100 years of trade.
